Bush Tax Cuts and a Quote

The 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts has not passed unnoticed.  Via Thoma, follow this link to the top five charts, demonstrating the effects of these cuts.  Not so pretty pictures, but definitely worth a look, if you are reality-based.  Even more so if you aren't, I suppose.

Here's the narrative:
Tax cut benefits strongly tilted toward the top earners, making over $1 Million.
The Tax cuts did not spur growth in either employment or GDP.  (But, of course, you knew that.)
The tax cuts plus the economic downturn drive record deficits.
The cost of extending the cuts for upper income taxpayers roughly equals the Social Security shortfall, over 75 years.

And yes, the data supports every bit of it.

Update:  At the CBPP link, commenter Jim Kainz adds this.

The “secret” $600 trillion Derivatives Market which most Americans have never heard of presents an opportunity to pay off the National Debt without cuts to Medicare benefits. A small 0.5% transfer fee when these billion dollar contracts execute would raise over a half trillion dollars yearly in addition to any other deficit reductions we take. See “How to Pay Off the National Debt” by Kainz on amazon or barnesandnoble.com.

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